A single application hosted in a data center, may be associated with multiple storage resources, or “volumes”, such as a database application having one volume for transaction logs and another volume for data. Similarly, a Web application supporting online shopping may have an application server hosting middleware to integrate applications that includes one or more dedicated storage volumes, and a database with two additional volumes supporting product information and transaction logs. In some practices, an administrator of the storage resources, often referred to as a storage administrator, may perform manual efforts to document the “grouping information” of the multiple storage resources that are associated with the same application.
It is not uncommon for a storage administrator to record the information on which the grouping of multiple storage resources belonging to the same application is based. Storage administrators of data centers find it helpful to label a group of storage volumes with the associated application in order to provide more applicable support and management of the storage volumes. For example, providing particular backup and maintenance support for storage volumes may depend upon the particular attributes and requirements of the application to which the storage volumes are associated. In practice, however, the detailed description of the associated application is not always available.
In some instances, a storage administrator may determine that a set of storage volumes, for example, volumes 1, 3, and 7, are associated with, sometimes referred to as “belonging to”, the same application; however, the exact type of application is not known, possibly due to standardization of information logging methods. Failing to determine the application type to which a group of storage resources are associated may result in unnecessary, inadequate, or in appropriate support from the data center.